Minutes into the game, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel (or perhaps more accurately, anti-apartheid) protesters made their presence known. A group gathered in lower-level center-court seats and waved signs, while protestors in the cheap seats unfurled banners that hung down from the upper level.

The protesters created quite a scene. Some fans yelled "Go home, Nazis!" and called for their removal, and indeed, arena security and Minneapolis police told them to put down their placards or be removed from the game. Today, a group representing the protesters is alleging that one observer who was monitoring the situation was assaulted while being ejected from the game and has sent along video footage to support the claim.

Here it is:

The man shown getting pushed around is local attorney Jordan Kushner, who was characterized by the Star Tribune in 2010 as "the go-to attorney for Twin Cities protest groups taking on the establishment." According to one of Kushner's colleagues, after the camera stopped rolling, he was ejected from the game, issued a citation, and told he'd be receiving a ticket in the mail.

A local group called Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign organized the T-Wolves game protest. On October 12, Break the Bonds, along with 100 organizations from around the world, sent a letter to each T-Wolves player asking them "to boycott the exhibition game against Maccabi-Haifa, the Israeli team that you are scheduled to play next Tuesday."

"Israel is committing grave human rights abuses involving an elaborate system of racial apartheid which discriminates against the native Palestinians in violation of international law," the letter continues. "Israel's abuses have been confirmed by the United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice."

Click to page two to read a press release distributed this morning by Minnesota Break the Bonds that discusses the incident.

A call to the Timberwolves seeking comment wasn't returned. We've also reached out to the MPD for their take on the incident, and will let you know what they have to say if and when they get back to us.

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This reminds me of countless videos depicting "police officers" beating unarmed and cooperative suspects while justifying it by repeating "stop resisting" over and over, even if the victim is unconscious.

Public arenas built with public funds are routinely "privatized" when it comes to public speech. Israel was pre-Mandella South Africa's closest ally, and the rules Israel has in place to control non-Jews in Israel are clearly Apartheid inspired.

None of this speaks to anything except the fact that Israel employs Apartheid tactics for controlling non-Jewish residents and workers. This is something that troubles many American Jews who in every other respect are very pro-Israel. In fact, Israel has employed several Apartheid-style tactics that the South Africans never used (there are roads in Israel that Arabs are not allowed to drive on).

So long as sports teams suck at the public tit, they should be subject to the same rules as the rest of us. Fred Phelps' nutty Westboro Baptists can legally picket the funerals of troops who fell in battle yet you can't protest Israel at Target Center when one of their teams comes to town? Really?